WE eventually finished the Wheat on the 2nd. We could only cut the heads off and chop the straw up as the undersown clover had nearly overgrown the wheat! However we managed to get a good sample. Its nice to know its all now safely into store, even if it is worth so little (about 6O% of its value 3 years ago!)

After the 3rd cut of Silage the Muck Spreaders moved in and spread about 1000 tons of muck on 200 acres of grassland ready to take sheep on tack (a common practice round here, where we - a lowland dairy farm - rent our grassland out to an upland sheep farmer at x pence per head per week. Thus giving us a bit of income and tidying up the farm and our tenant some clean grazing and his farm a rest from sheep)

We started Organic management of the cattle on the 1st - that is 9 months before we sell Organic milk. We were virtually doing so before, but, now it's official!

On the 15th I was fishing a little higher up the valley (still on Organic fields-but not mine) when I noticed there were hundreds of swallows and martins swooping from 0 feet to 200 feet above a single grass field (when you think that each one can eat up to 2000 insects a day!) I watched for several minutes, but could not see what they were eating. I wish them well on their long journey. This month really is the country persons month, we all have our secret places where, year after year, the best Blackberries grow, a few Mushrooms or the fattest nuts. This year I have discovered where some Ceps or Penny Bun mushrooms grow and I'm definitely not showing anyone!